Medieval Comic Books!

The British library on its medieval manuscripts blog posts digitized reproductions of medieval books, parchments and other manuscripts. Recently they posted two fun collections of manuscripts that they humorously referred to as medieval comic books, here and here.

The above photo, from an early 14th century Bible picture book, depicts Joseph learning about Mary’s pregnancy. There are some creative enhancements, including speech balloons with dialog just like in modern comic books!

Also posted are other Bible narratives, dancing camels, the lives of saints, and a man falling out of a tree!

I encourage you to follow the links, then poke around. The British Library has made a true treasure available for us all.